Lizzie Goldsmith

The Bends in the Road

Last night, I went to the cinema with my dad and sister to see the 50th-anniversary episode of the British television show Doctor Who. I’d only seen about a dozen episodes in total, and was going mostly for my sister, who wore her Doctor Who T-shirt and carried her sonic screwdriver and cheered at all ...

The wind is blowing in great gusts, and all the wood above me creaks, and the screen door slams shut and open and then shut again. I’ve been thinking about what I should write today, what is crawling through me, back and forth from head to heart, what is ready to come forth. And I ...

Right now, my eyes are fixed on December 18th — the day I fly to England for my first Christmas away from home. I’m counting down the days, I’m making lists, I’m living the anticipation. And then I remember what happened the last time I made a list before going on a big trip. It’s what ...

“I have a lot of doubts about … everything,” I said hesitantly over Skype. “Like what?” she asked. “God, the inerrancy of the Bible…” Gender roles. The charismatic movement. If I’ve ever really seen God do anything… I was waiting for widened eyes and “Oh Liz” and serious and concern and promises to pray for ...

Part of me doesn’t want to write this, not yet. Part of me wants to wait until I have everything decided and sorted out and settled upon, until I am ready to perfectly articulate and defend it all. Then it would be less scary. I’m not ready, but I have decided to come forward anyway. ...

I can’t make things happen. At least, not in an honest, relationships-driven environment. I don’t think I’ve ever realized this more acutely than during our Share-a-thon fundraisers here at the radio station (we’re just finishing up our fall Share-a-thon today). We ask people to call in, we say the phone numbers every few minutes, we ...

“To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart,” said a wooden ornament hanging from a bathroom cabinet. “The only person I have to be better than is the person I was yesterday,” said a signpost outside a church. Are these really the best mantras to carry with us? Growth and maturation ...

One month ago, I spontaneously decided to join with hundreds of other bloggers and accept the challenge to post a blog every single day of October. My series would be called 31 Days in the Word, and it would be a way to hold myself accountable to reading the Bible daily. Well, I have blogged ...

Cookies sliding into the oven while the phone is sandwiched between my shoulder and ear. I am laughing and the batch is small because I eat so much of the dough. The black-and-white dog I am growing to love walking fast with me in the waning twilight. I think we both prefer the longer loop. ...

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds ...